Half a million unused satellite dishes in UK

Your old satellite dish is unlikely to be this big
Your old satellite dish is unlikely to be this big

More than half a million households with a satellite dish are leaving it to rust rather than using it, according to new research by Harvard International.

Of course Harvard – distributors of Grundig and Goodmans digital television equipment – have a vested interest in getting people to use their old satellite dishes for free-to-air Freesat, but the numbers do bear consideration.

Apparently the company's research suggests that 600,000 satellite dishes are not being used, which could become useful once more if a Freesat box was purchased.

Digitally dormant homes

John Edwards, Harvard International's Director of Communications said, "We really want to help digitally dormant homes to get connected to the best TV experience possible.

"It's particularly simple for homes to enable Freesat or Freesat+ if they already have a satellite TV dish connected to their home. Grundig and Goodmans Freesat and Freesat+ set top boxes are available from high street and online retailers including Argos, Comet, Costco, Hughes TV, John Lewis, Maplin, Play.com and Tesco from as little as £48.97.

"Just connecting one to an existing satellite TV dish will undoubtedly turn any digitally dormant household into digital devotees."

In the interests of fairness, we should point out that you can also get a (non-HD) non-subscription service from Sky for a one-off payment.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.